Floor-working machines of interest herein have motor-driven disc-like brushes mounted horizontally. These machines were first developed for buffing waxed floors. The brushes on these machines are easily interchangeable and when stiff-bristle brushes are used, the machines are capable of doing difficult floor-cleaning jobs such as scrubbing old wax from linoleum floors. A floor scrubbing operation is normally carried out with water and liquid detergent, and therefore, it is preferable to install a splash guard around the base of the machine to prevent splashing detergent on wall bases and on the legs of furniture for examples. Because of the double functions of these machines, the splash guards are easily removable.
Typically, a splash guard of the prior art consists of strip of stiff material bend to form a low cylinder around the base of a floor-scrubbing machine. The guard is simply laid on the floor around the machine and let to slide on the floor surface to follow the movements of the machine. Examples of splash guards of the prior art are shown in the following documents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,981,966 issued to R. Beffel on May 2, 1961;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,135 issued to F. J. Pollnow, Jr. on Nov. 28, 1961;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,769 issued to H. F. Doersam on Mar. 3, 1964;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,153,251 issued to D. E. Ohlson on Oct. 20, 1964;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,635 issued to C. A. Carden on May 22, 1973;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,897 issued to J. R. Tucker et al. on May 25, 1982;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,870 issued to J. R. Tucker et al. on Mar. 13, 1984;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,385 issued to L. D. Bogue on Mar. 7, 1989;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,663 issued to L. L. Proulx on Jan. 25, 1994;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,413 issued to T. Myers et al. on May 7, 1996.
Floor cleaning of commercial buildings is often done by private contractors, and the floor machines used are often carried from one building to another in a contractor's vehicle. The equipment carried by these contractors include large containers of detergent, mop-wrinkling buckets, wide brooms, floor-scrubbing/polishing machine, gloves, shoes, etc. Before starting a cleaning job, this equipment is carried by hand from the contractor's vehicle to the working area, often requiring several trips to the vehicle. A second manipulation of this equipment is effected at the completion of the cleaning job. The splash guards of the prior art are bulky as these are made of stiff material and have diameters to enclose a floor machine entirely. Therefore, the transporting of such a splash guard to and from a job site and the storing thereof between uses represents a significant burden.
Although the prior art splash guards deserve undeniable merits, it is believed that a need still exists for a splash guard that can be folded into a compact arrangement for storage and that is easily deployed for use.